Re-bodying Dolls

Articulated (jointed) dolls are more fun. They walk better, sit better, and are simply interesting and fun to pose.

Pocahontus can't get comfortable on the couch.

Re-bodying dolls is a way to combine an interesting or attractive head with a body that has better articulation.

I found helpful guidelines from "How to Play with Barbies" in the post How We Re-body Dolls. Re-bodying is generally my first step with a new doll, before hair or re-painting.

Re-bodying supplies

Basic summary:

1. protect doll hair by wrapping with paper towels and a rubber band
2. warm neck joint with hair dryer
3. slowly pull head off
4. pry with tiny screwdriver if necessary

Optional first step: cut a slit in the back of reject head to remove easier. I do this with Liv doll heads.

I frequently purchase old Liv dolls and articulated Barbie dolls, like old Fashionistas.

Posing with my favorite bodies

I've been disappointed with most of the athlete Barbies, like gymnasts, because their hinge knees and clunky and they don't have articulated wrists. Also, look out for Liv dolls that don't have the typical articulation, like Twist 'n Dance Liv.

Awkward posing with awkward articulated bodies

Some drawbacks about re-bodying: while the dolls I've shown can generally share clothing, some will not fit as well. Barbie tends to have a large bust and feet sized for high heels. Liv dolls tend to have a smaller bust and wide flat feet. If a certain pair of shoes or outfit is important to the doll you are re-bodying, test the fit before switching heads.

Some heads will not fit on some bodies. I was surprised to find a unique head joint on my Nneka doll.  I was able to compromise with a Barbie body that had a tall neck joint (left), but her head couldn't fit on the short neck joint of a Liv doll (right).

Surprise! Never seen before neck joint!

Taking off the head of a doll with a tall neck joint takes work and patience. You can see this one developed white stress marks. Cutting off the reject head first could have been helpful.

Some dolls have neck openings too small to fit a Barbie or Liv body. I found that a Moxie Girlz fit perfectly on a Fairy Tale High / Winx body. But my Sparkle Girlz head was slightly too large.
(A note on removing the FTH/Winx head: just heat, yank off, and hope for the best. Twisting and bending will definitely destroy the tiny neck joint.)

Left: Moxie, Right: Floppy headed Sparklez 

Since my go-to body is Liv, I tried that next.

what? Just having a spa day, waiting for a new head.

 But, the Liv neck was slightly too large. So, don't re-body your Sparkle girl! Too bad I broke her neck joint on her original body...

can't... cram... it on!

I haven't seen a lot of information on re-bodying Ken dolls, so I will cover that in more detail. To my knowledge, there has only been one great articulated Ken, in the old Fashionista series. Additionally, sometimes random dolls have some joints, and of course G. I. Joe is highly articulated. I had a lucky weekend at the thrift store:

Three old Fashionista Kens, One teen singing doll, one G.I. Joe
Singing doll may be going back to the thrift store...

 I found that re-bodying Ken works well when they are both recent Mattel dolls.

Old fashionista vs. New fasionista 

 Both heads came off easily after being heated by the hair dryer, and the neck joints looked similar.

Care to trade?

The swap went perfectly! Now I had a unique brunette male doll who can move around rather than sticking a single pose.

I make this look good.

Emboldened by my success, I attempted to re-body my favorite head, a Disney doll. (I think he's the Beast after he becomes human.) A bad surprise awaited me:

Not compatible!

Two completely different neck types. I should have realized something was wrong; my Disney doll doesn't have up/down movement on his neck joint, only rotational.

In electrical work, you'd call one of these male and one female.

 I made a desperate attempt to surgically alter my favorite head to fit, but all I did was destroy it.

Throat transplant gone wrong.

I also found that both of my singing dolls have strange neck joins, and my 80's Ken has a joint that doesn't match anyone else's. So, I'm at a dead end with the male dolls for now but will hopefully find some more good heads in the future, and a solution for poor Beast. 

Nevertheless, re-bodying my dolls has brought a lot of fun and interest to my collection. Give it a try.

Doll Dance Party!